The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-05-10
WASHINGToN'S MODEL.
An Interesting Leaf from the Boy Life Of
the Nation,s Foremost Patriot.


the Nations Foremost Patriot.
The second of the Fairfax boys. bore
the name of Thomas This lad young
Washington never saw, but it was this
absent Thomas who exerted-th strong
est influence over young George Wash
ington's developing youth, and excited
a spirit of manliness and emulation
that none of his actual associates could
inspire. Before Washington became
intimate at Belvoir, young Thomas
Fairfax, then scarcely more than a
child, had been made midshipman in
the Kings Navee," and had sailed
away to foreign seas whence he never
returned.
His father inscribed upon the marble
that commemorated his death that
quaint epitaph:
10 THE nKHoRY or
THOMAS FAIRFAX, ESQUIRE,
Who died fighting in his country's cause on
boad the Harwick Ship OF War in an engage
ment with Monsieur Bourdenay. commander of
. French squadron on the Indian Coast
the a6th of June, 1916.
and in the twenty-frst year OF his age,
Beloved by his commander. Captain Carteret,
and highly favored by his friend. Commodore
Barnet for his politeness of manners. He was
q comely parsonage, OF undoubted bravery,
skilled IA the theory Of the profession; excelled
by few Is naval draughtsman, gave early prom
ises by pregnant genius and diligent application
OF o consummate offcer for the service OF his
country. But the Wisdom Of Heaven is inscru-
table; human life il ever in the hands OF its
author; and while the good and brave are always
ready for death, resignation becomes their sur
viving friends. Convinced OF this duty yet sub
dued by the sentiments Of tender parent this
tablet was inscribed and dedicated by his sor-
rowing father. 49,
May, Britain, all thy sons like him behave
May all be virtuous And like him brave.
Thy nercest foes undaunted he withstood,
And persisted lighting for his country's good.
Bold, ambitious. accustomed to see
no boy excel him, full of high senti-
ments of honor, loyalty and duty--who
can doubt what pulses thrilled the
heart of Washington, when this ex-
ample was brought face to face with
him every hour of his life? Who can
fail to see in these events the motive
which led him to seek, like Fairfax, q
midshipman's commission? You all
know the story; how vessel waited in
the Potomac; how Washington's lug
gage was sent on board; how his mother,
agonized lest her son, too. should die
among strangers on far-of seas. inter-
vened; and how, at her entreaties, he
abandoned a career that seemed to him
full Of promise and of glory-all these
are familiar themes. He laid his ambi-
ton at his mothers feet, and turned
his steps to the then quiet paths that
lay about his home. And soon those
paths extended into scenes of peril and
adventure that gave him fame even be-
fore he reached the age at which
Thomas Fairfax fell. But the influence
of the midshipman's example did not
stop there. And the heights of Boston
and the field of Yorktown witnessed in
after years the display of the martial
spirit that that was quickened into life
by the memory of Thomas Fairfax and
of his death in that unchronicled fight,
when the Virginia boy builded his life
into the foundations of the Empire of
William r. Carne. in Sc. Nj